How do I tell whether my gas fireplace has a standing pilot or electronic ignition?

The tell-tale flame — or the absence of one

The fastest test costs nothing: look inside the firebox when the fireplace has been off. If there's a small blue flame burning quietly at the pilot even though the main burner is dead, you have a standing pilot — it never fully goes out. If the firebox is completely dark and cold when off, and a flame only appears when you call for heat, that's electronic ignition.

This is the single clearest signal, and it's the one our techs confirm first on any service call around Asheville and Hendersonville.

Look at the controls

Behind the lower louver, a standing-pilot unit has a gas control valve with a knob you can turn between OFF, PILOT, and ON, usually with a piezo igniter button nearby for lighting the pilot. An electronic-ignition unit instead has an ignition control module and, very often, a battery holder — a pack of AAs or a 9-volt — that powers the on-demand spark. Spotting that battery pack is a dead giveaway.

Age helps too: standing pilots dominated for decades, so a fireplace from the 1990s or early 2000s is almost certainly one.

Why the difference matters

It's not trivia. A standing pilot is genuine backup heat — it keeps burning with the grid down, which mattered a great deal to WNC homes after Helene. Electronic ignition saves the small amount of gas a standing pilot burns year-round, but needs power or good backup batteries to light. Knowing which you have tells you how it'll behave in an outage and what to check when it won't start. If you're not sure, we'll identify it on any service visit. Call (828) 545-0525.